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Month: August 2014

Researches show, the recruiters and the employers spend less than 30 seconds to go through a resume and determine whether you have what it requires to move to the next phase of the hiring process. According to the study conducted by The Ladders.com, your resume just receive 6.25 seconds of scrutiny time. They use an eye-tracking software to realise the way recruiters actually scan resumes. Within that few minutes, your fate is decided- your resume will either be added to that successful pile that worth a phone call or it will be rejected to increase the land filth.

Passing the first phase can be really difficult. Moreover, if the CV is rejected, most of the applicants get frustrated. Most of the time, a job seeker has the confidence that profile is perfect for him or her. The recruiters must have also understood that if they have gone through the entire CV. Unfortunately, they will not delineate such a long time to scan your resume.

If you already have a resume, it is worthwhile to consider whether it is overflowing with information than the readers may like to see. Your CV needs to be comprehensive including only the relevant details that will help the readers pass your CV to the next level.

How will you represent the resume?

Like many other people in the service sectors, employers and recruiters work under strict deadlines. They have to select a right candidate for a job position within limited time span. A job advertisement usually generates heaps of applications. The recruiters cannot spend enough times going through what you have written in the CV. With that quick glance through a pile of CVs, the recruiters actually look for the ones that are truly impressive. So, do not include too many details about your projects or the company you have worked with. Such details are unnecessary.

You have to make sure that your CV is easily navigable with the information clearly presented in bite size chunks. While crafting the resume, it is vital to keep in mind that the readers can scan the salient points within 30 seconds. Usually recruiters look for the following details:

Name

Current job title/Company name

Past Experiences

Education

The rest of the details that you provide, will hopefully be skipped. You have to present the information in an organized manner, putting the most important information on the top. You may highlight the texts or bullet the points. That does not mean that you will use this tactic throughout. Use them sparingly, to draw the attention of the readers to the most vital points in your CV. Unless you are a complete fresher, put the educational details at the end of the paper.

Do your resume need a photograph?

Attaching a photo in the resume is not necessary. If the job profile is something like online self-promotion, a photo may be required, otherwise do not provide one. If there is a photograph in a paper, it will consume maximum concentration of the recruiters. They will only be left with a few seconds of their precious time to go through the essential information and determine whether you qualify for the job. A photo will not help them to decide whether you are fit for the job or not.

There are several recruiters who do not even look at the resumes with photos. If a job position requires you to submit a photograph, it will be mentioned in the advertisement.

How to format the resume?

CVs should not be any longer than 2 pages. That does not mean you will represent as much information as you can fit putting away the spaces from the paper. However, such a CV will soon be rejected. Narrow margins, clean fonts and sufficient gaps within the lines help to guide the readers’ eyes. Times New Roman and Arial are the two most common fonts used in the resume.

To make separate section of your CV to stand out, use heading in bold fonts. The font-size of the headline will be slightly larger than the general fonts you have used throughout the resume. You can include a table to surface the educational details in the resume. It is very useful to display grades. After you are done, you can make the lines of the table invisible as well. Your data will appear in proper rows and columns and it will be easy for the readers to follow.

Some jobs demand creative resumes, but all of them do not. Therefore, analyse the job role before formatting a resume for that position. For most of the jobs you need to have a clean resume highlighting your key strengths.